Working PaperRegion & Country Studies

Africa’s New Climate Economy: Economic Transformation and Social and Environmental Change

Milan Brahmbhatt, Russell Bishop

A faster pace of economic transformation will provide Africa with potential to make progress on three closely linked objectives: achieving robust long-term growth; promoting rapid poverty reduction and social inclusion; and acting to reduce climate risk.

Authors

Milan Brahmbhatt New Climate Economy

Russell Bishop New Climate Economy

Overview

November 2016

“Africa stands at the threshold of a tremendous opportunity: its economies are seeking to shift to higher-productivity sectors which can boost prosperity and drive developmental goals. At the same time, the right kind of economic transformation can also ensure that Africa’s growth is sustainable and resilient in the face of the increasing impacts of climate change.”

Fiona Lambe, Marie Jürisoo, Hannah Wanjiru, Jacqueline Senyagwa

EnergyRegion & Country Studies

The majority of sub-Saharan households cook using traditional biomass stoves, and 200 million more will do so by 2020. While the rest of the world modernizes its cooking methods and ends use of biomass, sub-Saharan Africa is the only region expected to have more people using these cookstoves due to population growth.

Anton Cartwright

CitiesRegion & Country Studies

The African continent is undergoing an unprecedented phase of urbanisation. Twenty two million people are added to Africa’s cities every year. The estimated 1.34 billion people that will live in African cities in 2050 in the midst of unprecedented climate instability poses a critical challenge to Africa’s future economic and social development.

Shelagh Whitley, Laurie van der Burg

EnergyRegion & Country Studies

The costs of fossil fuel subsidies far outweigh the benefits when considering the full economic, social, and environmental impact of these subsidies in sub-Saharan Africa. However, efforts to dismantle fossil fuel subsidies in sub-Saharan Africa are hampered by a lack of transparency, reliance on fossil fuels to support national development strategies, special interest agendas, and weak institutional capacity to communicate and support reform.

The Contribution of African Cities to the Economy and Climate

CitiesRegion & Country StudiesTechnical Notes

This paper provides population, GDP and carbon emissions estimates up to 2030 for 69 cities across 35 countries in sub-Saharan Africa for which data is available (primarily with populations above 0.5 million based on new top-down analysis commissioned for the Global Commission on the Economy and Climate). Estimates of carbon emissions at the city level are typically unavailable – particularly for sub-Saharan African cities – and to our knowledge this is the first time that these calculations have been attempted. The analysis has been undertaken using the Oxford Economics’ Global Cities 2030 database (covering 750 cities) and other published data.

Unlocking the Power of Ethiopia’s Cities

Firew Woldeyes, Russell Bishop

CitiesRegion & Country Studies

Ethiopia has recognised the critical role that well-managed urbanisation will play in realising its ambition to achieve middle income status by 2025. Given the extended lifecycle of urban infrastructure, a small number of key decisions over the next five years will shape and lock in Ethiopia’s urban future for many decades to come.